Strong weighs in on diversity in coaching

By Edward AschoffCorrespondent

Tuesday

Dec 29, 2009 at 11:46 PM

NEW ORLEANS — Charlie Strong’s induction into college football’s head-coaching fraternity was a monumental step in his life.It also opened the door to the sensitive subject of race and the college football hiring process.Strong’s decision to leave Florida and take over as Louisville’s head coach made him just one of the 13 African-American head coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision comprised of 120 schools. While Strong dismissed his race as being any sort of factor in his hire, he did recognize the progression college football has made in recent history as far as the number of African-American head coaches.“If you look at society, there’s changes being made,” Strong said. “Look at the President of the United States (Barack Obama). There’s always going to be changes and what you want to do is never put pressure on yourself and feel like you have to be a pioneer and you have to go make that move. There have been really good African-American assistant head coaches (that have become head coaches). You look at Kevin Sumlin at Houston, Randy Shannon (Miami), Mike London at Virginia, Turner Gill at Kansas. “There are steps that have been made. Guys are being placed in those positions, now.”In December alone, three African-American coaches — Strong, Gill (from Buffalo) and London (from Richmond) — made the jump to schools in BCS conferences.Tuesday, race had no bearing on why Strong was discussing Louisville, but he’s no stranger to controversy surrounding the topic.During days before the national championship in January, Strong insinuated that because his wife, Victoria, is white he was passed up for head-coaching jobs in the past.“Everybody always said I didn’t get that job because my wife is white,” Strong said during media day in January. “If you think about it, a coach is standing up there representing the university. If you’re not strong enough to look through that (interracial marriage), then you have an issue.”Junior cornerback Joe Haden said it’s confusing to see a high number of black athletes in college football, but a low number of black head coaches. He’s thrilled that Strong is now a part of that exclusive club.“It’s good that we’re finally getting more African-American head coaches (in college football), but the thing that made me even prouder was that it was coach Strong,” he said. “He’s a good coach, a great dude and he takes care of his family and is somebody that really cares about his team. I knew he was deserving of it and I was waiting for it to happen for him.”Dealing with race in sports has always been a hot, yet controversial, topic. It can be hard for some to openly talk about it — like Strong found out in January.Senior linebacker Ryan Stamper doesn’t mind bringing it up. He even thinks Strong should have already been offered a head-coaching job. He’s aware of the low number of African-American head coaches in the FBS and he’s proud that because of the way he -- and his teammates -- performed under him, Strong was awarded this opportunity. “It makes you feel real happy for him that an African-American can get a head coaching job in college football because there aren’t many out there,” Stamper said. “Just knowing that I took part in that and helped make that happen, just like the other guys on the defense, we think about things like that. It makes you feel real good.”Humbled by his hiring, Strong isn’t auditioning to carry the torch for African-American coaches, but he understands his potential success, like all other minority hires, could have an impact on the future of the college football hiring process.“It’s not that you feel the responsibility, it’s just that, now that you’ve been placed in that position where it hasn’t happened and it hasn’t been there, now you get a chance,” he said. “Society is going to see it.”

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